Final Fantasy X
by Vindaloovean
Summary: A novelization of the the RPG game, Final Fantasy X. Follows game.
1. Zanarkand

Final Fantasy X

Chapter 1 – Zanarkand

This was it. It was the day of the big blitzball tournament. The entire city had been talking about nothing else for weeks.

I had come a long way in the last year. I joined the blitz team, the Zanarkand Abes at the age of sixteen and now, nearly eleven months later, I was their star player.

Looking out of the window, I could see the fans waiting. That made me feel good. Fame wasn't a feeling I'd gotten used to and I was still making the most of it, though Auron had often warned me about becoming too wrapped up in myself.

He had come by earlier, under the pretence of seeing if I was ready for the game, but I knew he wanted to see how well I was holding it together, on the anniversary of my old man's death.

Auron didn't really care much for blitzball. In fact, he didn't really seem to care much about anything. Still, I was glad he stopped by. Despite his brusque attitude, I really think he cared, in his own way.

But he wasn't here now and had told me that he probably wouldn't be at the game either. He had an old friend he wanted to catch up with, he said.

After checking my hair one last time in the mirror, I headed for the door. Better give the fans what they wanted!

I stepped off of my houseboat and headed towards the group of blitzball fans that had gathered at the end of the pier.

The lights of the city illuminated the surrounding sky. Zanarkand had a kind of strange beauty about it, considering how industrialized it was. I had found the tall buildings and general chaotic busyness of the city intimidating when I was younger and as a result, I didn't like to be left alone much – a fact that had annoyed my old man greatly. A crybaby, he used to call me. Well, I'd be a better blitzball player than he ever was!

I turned my attention back to the fans.

"Can I have your autograph?" one girl asked, excitedly, thrusting a blitzball into my hands.

"Of course!" I took the ball and signed with the signature that I'd practiced privately, until it was perfect: _Tidus. _I smiled as I handed the ball back to her.

"Good luck, tonight!" the girl next to her added, almost jumping up and down with excitement. She was kinda cute.

"Nothing to worry about." I replied with confidence. "Oh, and if I score a goal… I'll do this!" I pumped my fist into the air. "That will mean it was for you. What seat?"

"East block, in the front row. Fifth from the right!" She had the decency to blush.

"Got it!" Maybe I'd take her out after the game. There were sure to be a number of parties we could choose from.

After signing a few more autographs – and generally acting like a star - I figured it was time to leave for the game but three young boys had other ideas.

"Two, three… Teach us how to blitz!" They shouted together.

"Hey, I got a game to play!" I replied, laughing.

The boys grin back at me. "Then teach us after!"

"Maybe tonight…" But what about that girl? "Uh… well..."

"You can't tonight."

Exactly! I turn to see who had spoken. A strange looking kid, stood slightly behind the others. He was dressed strangely in a long tunic with a hood. I hadn't noticed him standing there before.

I turn back to the boys, flustered. "Maybe tomorrow?"

After the boys had made me promise to meet them the next day at noon, I headed into the heart of the city and towards the blitzball stadium. Thankfully, the streets were fairly quiet. Everybody must be at the game already.

I couldn't help staring at the picture of Jecht – my old man – on a billboard as I passed it. He had been a star blitz player, until he went missing ten years ago. Well, I was as good as him. And I'd done it without his help! I often wondered if the people of Zanarkand would look up to him quite so much if they knew he was a drunk. The blitz game tonight was even in honour of him – The Jecht Memorial Cup Tournament. What a joke!

The usual congestion of the city was considerably less tonight, and I was glad. It didn't take me long as usual to reach the stadium. Inside, I met up with my team mates in the locker room, where we had a brief team meeting. It was agreed that, if the opportunity arose, I should do the Jecht shot. Of course, they wanted me to do it because it was the Jecht Memorial Cup, but I wanted to do to prove to everyone I was just as good as him.

For a moment, I wished Auron could've been there.

As we left the locker room and took our positions inside the sphere, my head was filled with nothing but the assurance that we would win tonight. The Zanarkand Abes would be victorious!

I took up my position as center forward, and waited for the sphere to fill with water. As soon as the water started flowing, the crowd sent up an enormous cheer. My heart raced as the adrenaline started pumping through my body. I lived for this feeling!

Soon the sphere was full and the blitzball was set in place on its launching pad. The whistle sounded, signaling the beginning of the game.

The game started well. We won most of the tackles and I had set up two shots that had only narrowly missed the goal. As play continued, I began to seek opportunities to perform the Jecht Shot. Soon, one appeared.

I swam up through the water and broke the surface with a huge thrust, following the ball high into the air. As I swiveled my body and went into a spin before my foot connected with the ball to execute the much anticipated shot, I could hear the crowd go wild at what I was about to do, but my eye caught something, as I turned.

All I could make out was a huge sphere of water, almost as big as Zanarkand itself, towering over the outskirts of the city. What was it??

Before I had time to even let out a cry of alarm, objects broke off and started hurling themselves towards the city. The crowd's cheers turned into screams of confusion and terror, as buildings and structures began to collapse around them from the impact.

I plunged back into the water of the blitz sphere and swam down towards the entrance and the locker rooms, hoping it would be safer there. All I could think of was what the hell was going on? Other players obviously had the same idea, as they all swam frantically towards the exit. Finally I managed to push my way through.

I needed to get to my house. It was on the water's edge, and I hoped it wasn't completely destroyed. As I left the blitzball stadium, I saw a familiar face waiting there.

"Auron! What are you doing here?" I shouted, running up to him.

Surprisingly, Auron didn't seem at all concerned with what was going on around him. "I was waiting for you." Was all he said.

Waiting for me? How did he know I'd come out this way? "What are you talking about?" I asked, but Auron had already turned and was walking away, quickly.

I ran after him. He obviously had a plan. Or, at the very least, knew of somewhere that was safe. You had to hand it to him; he always seemed to have every situation under his control.

I followed Auron onto the highway. People were running passed me. Where was he going? We were heading towards the giant sphere of water.

Before I could warn him, a boy appeared in front of me. It was the strange kid from before. And he wasn't running. I looked around as a hush fell over us.

Everything had stopped. It was as if time was standing still. People around me were frozen in mid-run, the look of fear, clear on their still faces. I turned back to the boy.

"It begins. Don't cry."

What??? But he disappeared and the chaos started up again. Before I had time to try figure out what that was about, I spotted Auron ahead of me.

"Hey, not this way!" Did he realize he was heading straight for the monster sphere?

"Look." Auron told me, as I finally caught up with him. He was motioning towards the sphere of water. "We called it "Sin"'

"Sin?" What sort of a name was that? But before I could question him further, what can only be described as "fiends" began to land on the highway, in front of us. I felt the panic begin to rise in my chest.

"Take it." Auron says, handing me a sword. "A gift from Jecht."

Jecht?

"My old man?" I took the sword.

I didn't know what he was expecting from me. It was so heavy, I could hardly hold it. I noticed Auron had drawn his own sword.

"I hope you know how to use it."

Oh brother!

The monsters began to surround us. I swung my sword towards one of them. It dodged, easily.

"These ones don't matter! We cut through!" No sooner were the words out of Auron's mouth, than he'd killed two of them with one swing of his sword. We both dashed through the gap he'd made, but we didn't seem to get very far before we were surrounded, once more.

"Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter and run!" Again, Auron swung his sword and took out two more.

I tried to copy him, and was surprised to see one of the fiends fall. Hey, maybe this wasn't so hard, after all!

We managed to break through again, but the highway seemed to be on the verge of collapse, up ahead of us. The road had split and the furthest edge was rising higher than the section we were standing on.

"Go!" Auron shouted, running towards the ever widening gap.

I ran as fast as I could, but the highway was collapsing beneath me. With a final burst of strength, I took a flying leap and managed to grab the ledge.

As I hung there, I stared up at the vortex that seemed to be trying to suck up all of the contents of the city. Auron was standing over me, and I called out to him to pull me up.

Auron looked over his shoulder at the sphere of water. "You're sure?" he seemed to be asking it, before he turned back to me. He reached down and grabbed my arm, pulling me up.

"This is it. This is your story. It all begins here." As he said this, Auron was sucked up into the vortex. I tried to release his grip on my arm, but couldn't. I began to scream as I too was pulled in. Thousands of lights surrounded me as I left behind the devastated city, Zanarkand.


	2. AlBhed

Chapter 2 – Al-Bhed

"My old man?"

I thought I heard Jecht's voice in my head and when I opened my eyes, I could see him. He was calling out to me and as much as I didn't want to be, I was drawn towards him.

I felt weightless floating there in the water, lights all around me. Curious though, that I didn't feel the tightening of my lungs or the need to surface for air – if there was a surface.

I started to swim towards my old man, but as I got closer, I realized it wasn't him – it was me, as a young child. I didn't understand.

As I floated there in that strange but somehow familiar place, I thought about a lot of things… like where I was, what I'd got myself into. I started to feel light-headed… and then sleepy. I think I had a dream. A dream of being alone. I wanted someone – anyone, beside me… so I didn't have to feel alone anymore.

I opened my eyes and groaned at the cold. I was lying on some sort of rock, my body still halfway in the water. My legs felt numb beneath me.

As I looked around, I could see other rocks scattered into the distance all around me. Were these some sort of ruins? There was water everywhere but I could just make out stone steps some distance ahead of me. It was held to tell where they led, the fog was so thick.

I pushed myself off of the rock and gasped at the cold as my torso was once more submerged. Slowly, I began to swim towards the steps. The water wasn't very deep and I could see pillars and other debris scattered all around.

Finally, I made it to the steps and thankfully pulled myself out. All around me were more ruins. I could make out what once must've been an ornately carved archway but which had now but which had now collapsed in on itself. Where was this place? I looked around and spotted what looked like a narrow stone walkway. I had no choice – I wanted to find some shelter. The air was feeling colder by the minute.

Crossing the walkway didn't appear to be difficult. I just had to watch my st… whoa!

The old stone gave way beneath me and I was plunged back into the nearly freezing water. I looked to find a way to climb out, but there didn't appear to be one. I dived under to see if there was anything there. Playing blitzball had its advantages – I could hold my breath for extended periods of time.

Where I had fallen looked to have been some sort of enclosed courtyard that must've been above water, some time in the past. Again, there were broken pillars all around me and, in between them, what looked like doorways. They seemed to be blocked.

I felt something stir behind me – something big. I spun myself around.

A large – no huge! – fiend stared at me from only feet away. Its teeth glistened in its grinning mouth and its body pulsed with a weird light.

Without hesitation, I pulled out the sword Auron had given me and struck out at the beast. It didn't seem the least bit concerned and reacted by swimming at me hard, knocking the breath out of me.

Okay, so this one was a little than the fiends that me and Auron had taken on. Time for a swift retreat!

I swam quickly to the surface, took in a lungful of air and dived back under again. Looking around quickly, I noticed that one of the submerged doorways was partially unobstructed – enough to let me through. If I was lucky.

Kicking powerfully, I swam in that direction, thankful that my legs were strong because of constant blitzball training. The fiend followed.

I could sense it behind me and just before I reached the doorway, I felt its mouth open, and the water rush in, threatening to suck me in too. With a final, frantic thrust of my legs, I pushed myself through the narrow gap in the door – and headlong into some stone steps. As the fiend tried to follow, the impact caused the doorway to collapse, sealing him out. And me in.

I had made it out of the frying pan… and into the freezer. I thought I was going to die in this place. And I probably would if I didn't find some sort of warmth soon.

I pulled myself out of the water and onto the stone steps. I seemed to be in some sort of hallway, albeit a dilapidated one.

Working my way around the rubble, I climbed the stairs. At the top was an elaborate doorway that opened up into a large circular hall. In the center I found the remains of an old fire. There was some kindling and flint, nearby and before long, I had a small fire going.

I huddled down in front of it, trying to ignore the hunger pangs that had started to gnaw at my stomach. As my body began to relax in the growing warmth, I start to doze. I began to wonder what had happened to Auron as I drifted more fully into sleep.

_I am pacing the living area of my houseboat when Auron walks in. He doesn't knock._

"_What do you want?" I ask, irritably._

_Auron shrugs. "It was a bad call. Your team lost because of you."_

"_You came here to say _that_?" I stop pacing to look at him._

"_It's been… ten years." Auron shrugs again. "I thought you'd be crying."_

"_Who, me?"_

_My houseboat fades around me and I am surrounded by lights. The strange kid from Zanarkand appears in front of me._

_He seems to be staring right into my soul. "You cried."_

I don't know if I heard something, or if it was the growing cold that seemed to be seeping into my bones, but I woke with a start. The fire had almost died.

"Wait! Don't go out on me!" I cried, as I jumped to my feet and looked around frantically for something to burn.

Something caught my attention from above. Movement. Not another fiend! Give me a break!

The creature launched itself into a run, clinging to the walls as it circled me, making it's way down to my level. I pulled out my sword as it pushed itself away from the wall and landed in front of me. It looked like some sort of long legged reptile. An angry one.

Before I could make a move, the fiend leapt forward and tried to strike me with one of it's long legs. I managed to dodge and strike back with my sword.

The next time, I wasn't so lucky and the fiend strikes me. Okay, this didn't look so good.

As I wondered whether or not I should retreat, an explosion rocked the room. The fiend paused in its attack and I looked around to see what was going on.

A group of people entered the room. Their clothes were strange and they were carrying weapons of some sort. One of the smaller ones (a girl?) steps forward and begins attacking the fiend.

"You on my side?" I asked, not really expecting a reply. "Cool!"

Two against one really seemed to even things up and before long, the fiend had collapsed.

"Whew! That was close!" I gasped, as I poked it with the end of my sword. I looked around for the girl, but the men had begun to close in on me. One of them stepped forward and grabbed me by the hair.

"Hey! Lemme go!" And there I was thinking they were friendly!

The man that had grabbed me speaks. "Fryd ec drec?"

"Y fiend! Eu risyn teckieca!" said another, as he eyed me with suspicion.

"Fa gemme ed?" The first said.

Finally, the girl who had fought with me stepped forward. She seemed agitated. "Fyed! Fry dev ed ec nsyh?"

More arguing continued. Not for the first time, I wished I could understand what they were saying. Had I done something to offend them?

They suddenly fell quiet and all of them looked at me expectantly. Except for the girl. She approached me quickly and leaned towards me, as if she wanted to whisper something.

"Cunno."

Huh? Before I had a chance to react, the breath was knocked out of me. I looked up to see the men gather around me as my vision went black.

Ow! My head hurt! The sound of water reached my ears as I tried to stand. An armed man approached me and slammed his weapon into my shoulder.

"Hey! That hurts!" But I decided to sit back down.

Looking around, I noticed for the first time that I was on some sort of ship. To my right was a huge crane and there was a door to my left which, I assumed, led down to the lower decks. At that moment, the door opened and the girl came out, accompanied by one of the men from earlier.

"Caynir res!"

"Right. Whatever." I became more irritated by the second. Didn't these people speak English?

"Ehcumahla!" The man pointed at me as I climbed to my feet, once more. The girl chose this moment to step forward.

"He says you can stay if you make yourself useful."

"You… you can understand me?" I stared at her, dumbfounded. "All right. I'll work."

"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us. It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it… and then we should be able to salvage the big prize! Okay, let's get to work."

Before I had time to answer, she had dived off of the edge of the ship and into the water. The man on the deck scowled at me so I hurried after her.

She was right. The ruins were some sort of ship. We swam inside and soon found what looked like a control panel. I punched the buttons randomly for several minutes and it soon powered up. We ran into a couple of fiends on the way back up to the surface, but they weren't big and we soon took care of them. Nonetheless, it was a relief to return to the ship.

I followed the girl as she headed for the doorway, but one of the men waiting there pushed me back outside.

"Hey! I helped out, didn't I?" The doors slammed shut and I was locked out. Great!

I sat down and tried to ignore the hunger. I wondered if the girl was a blitzball player. She could certainly hold her breath as long as I could. Thinking about blitzball made me think of Zanarkand and I wondered how far away we were.

My thoughts were interrupted as the girl pushed the door open. Was that a plate of food she was carrying? It was.

She placed it on the floor in front of me. I'm ashamed to admit that I stuffed down that food as fast as I could. I was so hungry! Maybe too fast; I started to choke.

The girl handed me a flask and I took huge gulps. Soon my coughing had subsided.

"It's because you eat too fast." She told me, matter of factly.

Once I had finished with the food, I got up to look at her. She was wearing some sort of wetsuit and a cap was pulled over her head, though strands of blond frame her face. She looked to be around fourteen years old.

"Hello there. What is your name?" I asked her, curious now that my hunger has diminished.

"Rikku." She replied.

"Whoa! You really do understand!" Finally! Maybe she could help me get back to Zanarkand. "Why didn't you say so before?"

"I didn't get a chance to." She was almost defensive. "Everyone thought oui were a fiend."

"Uh… 'oui'?"

"Oh, 'oui' means 'you'." She explained, grinning.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" And can you get me back to Zanarkand? I thought.

"We're Al-Bhed. Can't you tell?" Rikku seemed happy to tell me this. Then her face turned pale. "Wait! You're not an Al-Bhed hater, are you?"

"I don't even know what an Al-Bhed is."

She looked at me closely. "Where are you from?"

"Zanarkand. I'm a blitzball player." I couldn't help bragging. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!"

Rikku looked genuinely surprised. "Did you hit your head or something?"

"Uh… you guys hit me." I reminded her.

She still looked troubled. "Do you remember anything before that?"

So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand… About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack… and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. I just said things as they came to mind. But then I started to wonder.

"Did I say something funny?" The look on Rikku's face made me ask the question.

"You were near Sin." She seemed to relax, slightly. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time! They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

"You mean I'm sick?" I didn't feel sick.

"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah."

"You sure?" Okay, so I didn't feel great, but after all I'd been through that was hardly surprising. But if I felt okay then, Rikku's next words would make me reconsider my sanity.

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago." She looked at me with sympathy. "So… no one plays blitzball there."

"What do you mean, 'a thousand years ago'?" I was stunned. I started to feel light-headed. "But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand! You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"

"You said… you play blitzball?" Rikku said, tapping her cheek with her finger. This was a habit I'd come to get used to; she was deep in thought. "You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."

"Luca?" This had to be a dream. Yes! That was it! I'd wake up any minute!

"Okay, leave it to me. I'll get you to Luca, promise!" she jumped to her feet and headed for the door. "I'll go tell the others. Wait here. Oh, and one thing; don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."

My Zanarkand some sort of holy place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when?

Yevon? Luca? Sin? I thought Sin had just taken me to some faraway place, that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way! This was so unfair!

I stood up and aimed a kick at a nearby barrel. What the…?

A low rumble began shaking the deck of the ship. Nearby barrels toppled over and rolled away from me, towards the crane. The rumbling was increasing by the second and I could hear the intermittent squeal of the ships engines as the propellers were lifted out of the water and dropped back in again. I didn't understand; the sky was clear.

I began to wonder whether I should try to find Rikku and alert her to the strange happenings, but surely she could feel it?

Just then, something erupted from the water ahead of me. Before I had a chance to jump back, the door burst open and I heard shouting behind me.

"Sin!" a man's voice shouted.

I turned to see several men running towards me, waving their arms frantically. Rikku was behind them.

The shock of the cold as the wave engulfed me took my breath away. I didn't know which way was up! Suddenly, the deck was no longer beneath my feet and I could feel myself falling.


End file.
